Devina Joshi
Advertising

Videocon Group calls for creative pitch for other portfolio brands

The brands include Sansui, Electrolux, Akai, Hyundai and Kelvinator. The group is also looking for an agency to service its upcoming mobile handsets business. The combined ad spend is around Rs 100 crore

The Videocon Group wasn’t kidding when it claimed to go in for a complete makeover earlier in the year. After putting in place new marketing and backend teams, the group’s attention has shifted to its advertising, marketing and upcoming products.

The group has called for a creative pitch for five of the other consumer durables brands in its portfolio – Sansui, Electrolux, Akai, Hyundai and Kelvinator. The pitch also includes the upcoming mobile handsets business which Videocon will formally roll out in early 2009.

To put things in perspective, the Videocon Group has divided its entire portfolio of brands into two clusters. The first, comprising Videocon (the brand) and Kenstar, was recently assigned to Saatchi & Saatchi, as reported earlier by afaqs!

Videocon Group calls for creative pitch for other portfolio brands
Sandeep Tiwari
The second cluster comprises the five group brands mentioned above and the mobile handsets business, all of which are currently up for pitch. “We have divided our ad spends for these two clusters in a 50:50 ratio, respectively,” says Sandeep Tiwari, head, marketing, Videocon Group. The total ad spends earmarked till the end of 2009 for the entire group is Rs 200 crore and out of this, Rs 100 crore will be assigned to the first cluster (Videocon and Kenstar), while the other half will be divided among the brands in the second cluster. In this second cluster, the advertising spends will be led by the mobile handsets business, which will require a large spend for the launch campaign. A brand name is yet to be decided for this vertical, and Tiwari clarifies that the mobile handsets business will not be aligned under any existing group brand. In short, it will have a unique brand name.

The Videocon Group is looking at a two agency setup for all its businesses: While Saatchi & Saatchi is on board already, the other agency, when selected, will be expected to handle the second cluster completely. “We want a two agency roster setup for more clarity and simplicity,” says Tiwari.

Following the creative pitch will be a media planning pitch (the buying is done by Confidence, the in-house media division of the group). “We need to give our media planning a complete makeover too, from facial to pedicure,” quips Tiwari. Next on the list is a hunt for an Internet marketing agency and a PR agency. But all these will happen much later; the immediate plan is to get the creative agency setup in place.

For the record, afaqs! reported recently that Saatchi & Saatchi won the Videocon and Kenstar business, while Publicis Ambience won the Videocon DTH business – Videocon’s foray into DTH, a separate vertical under the group’s media arm, Bharat Business Channel (BBCL).

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